Spatial and temporal zoning of watershed resilience using a multidimensional composition approach

The present initiative study has been planned to develop a conceptual model for watershed resilience for which rare documents have been reported yet, particularly in developing countries where such studies are necessary. In this vein, different ecological, social, economic, and infrastructural and cultural key domains were applied for the modeling processes of watershed resilience for the Shazand Watershed in Iran. To this end, watershed resilience was firstly conceptualized according to the prevailing conditions for three periods 1986–1998, 1999–2008, and 2009–2016. Accordingly, the watershed health index was used for the ecological dimension, and 13, 8, and 13 criteria were consequently considered for social, economic, and infrastructural and cultural dimensions, respectively. The whole data required for the last three dimensions were collected through the distribution of questionnaires among the stockholders of the Shazand Watershed. The principal component analysis (PCA) method was used to weighting and prioritize the criteria and dimensions. The overall resilience index was ultimately calculated by aggregating all four dimensions using a geometric mean. The effect of each dimension on resilience was also assessed by applying multivariable regression. According to the resilience map of the period 2009–2016, 40%, 9%, 34%, and 17% of the Shazand Watershed has been classified as very low and low resilience, moderate, high, and very high resilience. This study showed that the resilience of the Shazand Watershed has improved over time. The necessity of resilience modeling for practical and integrated management of watersheds was also confirmed during the present research.